Slash and Myles Kennedy: Ivory trade anywhere is a threat to elephants everywhere

Even though elephants can weigh up to seven tons and most people will never see an elephant in the wild, elephants share some amazing traits with humans.

Elephants show emotions like love and joy. They can express empathy. They are loyal to their families and devoted to their young. They grieve in some of the same ways we do: it’s not uncommon that they’ll keep weeklong vigils over fallen family members, then later revisit their bones.

When an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 elephants are killed each year for their ivory, those who survive must be in nearly constant mourning.

With these staggering and saddening statistics, we couldn’t sit in silence any longer.

The plight of the species moved us to speak out and do what we can, so we joined forces with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to raise awareness of the elephant crisis and motivate the public to take action.

Our new song and video “Beneath the Savage Sun” tells the story of an elephant who has lost a loved one from the elephant’s point of view.

“How many killing seasons can you justify?” he asks. “How many dead and bleeding / Only for an ivory lie?”

Trade in elephant ivory is driving these amazing animals to extinction; largely at the hands of criminal networks that kill local wildlife rangers and support organized crime, smuggle drugs and transport illegal firearms. They do all this to meet the lucrative demands of consumers in China, the United States and elsewhere, many who don’t even realize that every piece of ivory comes from a dead elephant, but who still value the stuff as jewelry, trinkets, and yes, instruments.

We love our instruments.

We know that many of you love your guitars with ivory bridges and pianos with ivory keys, but we need you to think about where things came from and what are your ethics when buying and selling them?

Do we really want to profit off of the extinction of such a beautiful and majestic species?

Think about it.

Support IFAW and its efforts to stop the poaching, stop the trade and stop the demand for ivory..